Household appliance, in particular refrigeration device

ABSTRACT

A household appliance, in particular a refrigeration device, in which ice bodies can be made of supplied water, includes a hose and/or tube assembly for supply of water to a receiving container, and a valve connected to the hose and/or tube assembly and constructed to release or suppress the water supply to the receiving container. The hose and/or tube assembly has zones in which a physical condition changes, wherein the valve is disposed in the hose and/or tube assembly in a region which has not yet encountered a change in the physical condition after water has been supplied into the hose and/or tube assembly.

The present invention relates to a household appliance, in particular a refrigeration device, in which ice pieces can be produced from supplied water, having a hose and/or tube assembly for supplying the water to a receiving container, and having a valve which is connected to the hose and/or tube assembly and by actuation of which a delivery of water to the receiving container can be released or suppressed.

In the construction of a household appliance of the aforementioned type, also described as an ice maker, a conventional design, as shown schematically in FIG. 1 of the attached drawings, was selected initially. According to this design, the water intended for freezing into ice pieces in a provided receiving container AU is passed through a first hose and/or tube section TU1 which can be shut off by means of a stopcock HA initially through a filter FI by means of which foreign matter contained in the water can be filtered out from the latter. Spaced at a distance from said filter FI there then follows in a second hose and/or tube section TU2 connected to said filter FI a valve VE which is contained in said section and by actuation of which at an actuation point ST the respective water delivery volume to the receiving container AU is controlled.

After a relatively short period of operating the household appliance depicted schematically in its basic construction in FIG. 1, malfunctions however occurred in the valve VE due to fine particle deposits which had built up in the interior thereof despite the presence of the filter FI. An investigation was therefore carried out to ascertain what was causing fine particle deposits of said type. In the course of these investigations it was determined that the second hose and/or tube section TU2 in the concrete example passed through zones A and B of different external temperatures T1 and T2 respectively. In this case the temperature T1 of zone A containing the filter FI was higher than that of zone B, in which the temperature T2 prevailed and in which the valve was situated.

As a result of this discovery, using a test setup corresponding to the layout shown in FIG. 1, the two zones A and B were exposed to different physical conditions, such as different temperatures and/or different water pressures and/or different electromagnetic fields. It was observed during this process that in the water supplied in each case to valve VE, fine particle deposits were always present whenever different physical conditions prevailed in the two zones A and B, whether it be in relation to the temperature, the water pressure or active electromagnetic fields.

The object of the invention is therefore to demonstrate a way in which it can be ensured in the case of a household appliance, and in particular of a refrigeration device of the type described in the introduction, in a relatively simple manner that no fine particle deposits occur in the valve, leading to the described operational malfunctions.

According to the invention the above-cited object is achieved in the case of a household appliance, and in particular of a refrigeration device of the type described in the introduction, in that in the case of a hose and/or tube assembly passing through zones having different physical conditions, in particular having different temperatures and/or different water pressures and/or different active electromagnetic fields, the valve is inserted in the region of the hose and/or tube assembly which after the supply of water into the hose and/or tube assembly, remains without any alteration and/or change in the physical conditions.

The invention provides the advantage that solely by way of an altered placement of the valve as opposed to the arrangement according to FIG. 1 in the hose and/or tube assembly supplying the water for the mentioned receiving container, it is possible to prevent harmful fine particle deposits from accumulating in the valve even though the hose and/or tube assembly in question passes through zones in which different physical conditions prevail.

At this point it should be pointed out that in household washing machines it is in fact usual for a controllable inlet valve to be disposed in the respective water intake area. In the hose and/or tube assembly connected directly after said water intake area, however, there exists in practice only one and the same physical condition with regard to temperature or pressure of the supplied water or with regard to the electromagnetic field present. In that application there is therefore no hose and/or tube assembly passing through zones having different physical conditions.

A filter, in particular a fine particle filter, is beneficially disposed upstream of the valve in the hose and/or tube assembly on the input side. This advantageously enables otherwise occurring fine particle deposits to be prevented as far as possible.

Preferably the filter is an activated-carbon filter or a fabric filter. The advantage in this case is that relatively easily obtainable filters can be utilized.

The invention is explained by way of example below with reference to drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the conventional layout as previously described of the water supply to a household appliance, in particular in the form of an ice maker, and

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the water supply to a household appliance according to the invention, in particular in the form of an ice maker.

Before referring in more detail to FIG. 2, it should be pointed out that in both FIGS. 1 and 2 the same elements and/or assemblies are identified by the same reference signs.

In the schematic diagram shown in FIG. 2 of the water supply to the receiving container AU of the household appliance according to the invention, in particular in the form of an ice maker, the valve VE, in contrast to the situation evident in FIG. 1, is disposed in the hose and/or tube section TU1 of the hose and/or tube assembly in zone A, downstream of the filter FI installed in said zone A. All remaining assemblies such as the stopcock HA and the filter FI are arranged exactly as in the layout shown in FIG. 1.

According to FIG. 2, the valve VE is thus disposed in the same zone A in which the water, after entering the hose and/or tube assembly TU1, TU2, is exposed solely to one and the same physical condition, in this case in relation to water temperature, water pressure and an external electromagnetic field. According to FIG. 2, only the hose and/or tube section TU2 is located in the second zone B adjoining zone A. Relocating the valve VE to zone A ensures that no fine particle deposits occur in the valve VE which in the case of the arrangement according to FIG. 1 had led to malfunctions and sometimes to breakdowns of assemblies constructed in said manner.

Finally it should be pointed out that according to FIG. 2, not only the valve VE, but also the stopcock HA and the filter FI are disposed in zone A. The stopcock HA and the filter FI may be omitted where appropriate if corresponding assemblies are disposed in the water supply outside of the appliance according to the invention. Essential to the present invention is however that in the case of a hose and/or tube assembly passing through zones having different physical conditions, in particular having different temperatures and/or water pressures and/or having different active electromagnetic fields, the valve VE is inserted only in the region of the water supply to the hose and/or tube assembly, i.e. in that region of the hose and/or tube assembly which is not yet subjected to different physical conditions.

LIST OF REFERENCE CHARACTERS

A.B Zones

AU Receiving container

FI Filter

HA Stopcock

ST Actuation point

TU1 First hose and/or tube section

TU2 Second hose and/or tube section

VE Valve 

1-4. (canceled)
 5. A household appliance, comprising: a hose and/or tube assembly for supply of water to a receiving container, said hose and/or tube assembly having zones in which a physical condition changes; and a valve constructed to release or suppress a delivery of water to the receiving container, said valve being disposed in the hose and/or tube assembly in a region which has not yet encountered a change in the physical condition after water has been supplied into the hose and/or tube assembly.
 6. The household appliance of claim 5, constructed in the form of a refrigeration device in which ice pieces can be produced from supplied water.
 7. The household appliance of claim 5, wherein the physical condition is at least a member selected from the group consisting of water temperature, water pressure, and active electromagnetic field.
 8. The household appliance of claim 5, further comprising a filter disposed upstream of the valve in the hose and/or tube assembly.
 9. The household appliance of claim 8, wherein the filter is a fine particle filter.
 10. The household appliance of claim 8, wherein the filter is an activated-carbon filter.
 11. The household appliance of claim 8, wherein the filter is a fabric filter. 